; and there were also those letters with which you are familiar.
She took them to her room, shut herself up, and studied them as
eagerly as ever either you or I did. She then hurried back to
Chetwynde Castle, and laid every thing before the Earl. Out of this
arose his excitement and its very sad results."

"I did not know that there were sufficient materials for
accomplishing so much," said Gualtier, cautiously.

"No; the materials were not abundant. There was the cipher, with
which no one would have supposed that any thing could be done. Then
there were those other letters which lay with it in the desk, which
corroborated what the cipher seemed to say. Out of this has suddenly
arisen ruin and anguish."

"There was also the key," said Gualtier, in a tone of delicate
insinuation.

"True," said Hilda; "had the key not been inclosed with the papers,
she could not have understood the cipher, or made any thing out of
the letters."

"The Earl must have believed it all."

"He never doubted for an instant. By the merest chance, I happened to
be in a place where I saw it all," said Hilda, with a peculiar
emphasis. "I thought that he would reject it at first, and that the
first impulse would be to scout such a charge. But mark this"--and
her voice grew solemn--"there must have been some knowledge in his
mind of things unknown to us, or else he could never have been so
utterly and completely overwhelmed. It was a blow which literally
crushed him--in mind and body."

There was a long silence.

"And you think he can not survive this?" asked Gualtier.

"No," said Hilda, in a very strange, slow voice, "I do not
think--that--he--can--recover. He is old and feeble. The shock was
great. His mind wanders, also. He is sinking slowly, but surely."

She paused, and looked earnestly at Gualtier, who returned her look
with one of equal earnestness.

"I have yet to tell you what purpose induced me to appoint this
meeting," said she, in so strange a voice that Gualtier started. But
he said not a word.

Hilda, who was standing near to him, drew nearer still. She looked
all around, with a strange light in her eyes. Then she turned to him
again, and said, in a low whisper:

"I want you to get me something."

Gualtier looked at her inquiringly, but in silence. His eyes seemed
to ask her, "What is it?"

She put her mouth close to his ear, and whispered something, heard
only by him. But that low whisper was never forgotten. His fa